What is recorded here

Mairtin is right. The cross belongs to Murchu, but Murchu is not the point. The point is the woman who stood beneath it, pregnant and furious, refusing to leave a man she no longer loved. She chipped the cross, dropped a ring into the font and walked out before dawn. The church kept her name out of its books, but the water kept it in every birth it touched.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00094 Dimensions: H 0.565, W 0.40, T 0.037 Outline cross with hollow angles in a single line frame. Inscription: Below the frame is the inscription 'MUIRGALAE' Evidence of discovery: Rubbing taken by Rev. J. Graves in 1869 Condition: Complete but weathered. Natural fissure on left. National Monuments Service, Photo number: 81-312, 480 Stokes, M. (1878) Christian Inscriptions in the Irish language, Vol 1, p XLII, no. 107 Lionard, Early Irish Grave-slabs, PRIA 60(1959-60), p 113, Fig 10, no. 18. The Clonmacnoise inventory was compiled by the Office of Public Works. A copy of the record for this slab is available for inspection in the relevant Archaeological Survey of Ireland (SMR) file. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

Early medieval Christian cross-slab, likely 8th to 10th century, associated with the monastic settlement of Clonmacnoise. The inscription "MUIRGALAE" may be a personal name or dedication, reflecting early Irish Christian funerary practice.

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